


Because of a Bus

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Chance Meetings, F/M, Requited Love, carpool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-10 00:37:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5562040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Tyler hates riding the bus onto campus, until she meets a rather interesting man there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Because of a Bus

Rose Tyler hated the bus to get onto campus.  She really did hate it.  It was full of pushing and stumbling and having to sit next to a complete stranger.  None of it was conductive to getting into a mood for learning. 

She walked down from her flat on a Monday afternoon and threw her messenger bag over her shoulder before running out to the bus.  Already grumbling about getting on that sodding bus, she climbed the steps onto it and showed the pass to the driver.  He waved her on and when she turned she saw that the bus was almost completely full.

The only thing she wanted to do was roll her eyes, but she didn't plan on making any enemies.  So, she headed to the back of the bus and saw the literal only open seat next to a man with his head buried in a book and earbuds in his ears.

He was gorgeous, to say the least, and she found herself studying his profile as she sat.  Her movements must have alerted him to her presence, for he sat up and grinned at her as he took one of his earbuds out. 

"Hello," he said cheerfully, shutting his book.

Rose tried not to giggle at how completely excited he looked just to be alive.  "Hello," she said, smiling back at him.  

"What's your name?"

"Rose.  Yours?"

He nodded, as though approving of her name.  "I'm John."

"S'nice to meet you, John," she said politely.

He wrinkled his nose at her.  "No, it isn't."

Rose furrowed her brows at him.  "Why would you say that?"

John gestured to her.  "I can tell by your body language, you look miserable.  I take it you don't like the bus?"

"I hate the bus."

He smiled again.  She liked that smile.  "I had a feeling you felt that way."

She let herself laugh and she shook her head.  "You can't tell me you like it."

"I'm sitting here with a book and an iPod," he said blandly.  "I'm not exactly here to socialize."

Rose shrugged, "Well, I've never seen you on the bus before," she said, "I ride the bloody thing every time I go to class."

John nodded at her, "Very observant of you," he shifted so that he was facing her more directly, "I usually drive."

"You've a car?"

"Yeah."

"Then why the hell aren't you driving it now?"

He looked at her sheepishly and lifted a shoulder, feigning nonchalance, "Well, I sort of crashed it.  It's in the shop today."

Rose couldn't suppress a laugh.  "Well done."

"Oi!  I didn't do it on purpose!" 

"How'd you crash it then?" She nudged his shoulder, "Staring at a pretty girl?"

"Don't be ridiculous, I hadn't met you yesterday when I crashed it," he said, as though it were really a stupid thought indeed, and she blinked at the unexpected flattery.  "I was trying to fix the radio... While I was driving."

"Well, hopefully you won't have to ride the bus for very long," Rose said, "It is truly awful."

John snorted a laugh out.  "Yes, I'll get it back tomorrow."  

There was a brief silence, not an uncomfortable one, it was just there.  Finally, he cleared his throat and held out one of his earbuds to her.  "Would you like to listen?"

Rose nodded, daring to scoot a little closer to him to take the bud from him.  Placing it in her right ear, she saw him put his in his left.  He pressed the 'play' button and sat back, waiting to enjoy whatever was coming on. 

"Coldplay," she said in approval after about a minute.

He looked at her, barely restrained joy on his face.  "You like them?"

"Yeah."

"Oh!  Oh, good."

They didn't talk after that, but his fingers ended up tapping out a beat on her knee, and she certainly wasn't stopping him.  In fact, she was a little surprised at how much she didn't mind him touching her. 

The bus pulled to a stop as they reached campus, and John took back his earbuds and stuffed them into his bag.  "Our stop, then," he said cheerfully.  

She stood up and he followed her lead, gesturing for her to exit first.  She led them out, the last two of the bus, and was about to just take off when he grabbed her arm, stopping her.  

"You hate the bus," he said conversationally, his hand slipping down to twine their fingers together as he pulled her along onto the campus ground.  "Maybe you should drive with me onto campus."

"Our class schedules might not intersect."

He made a non-committal sound in the back of his throat, swinging their intertwined hands.  "But they might.  And either way, I'm in the library every day."

"Don't you have a computer?"

"Yes.  I like the books."

She cast a sidelong glance at him.  "A book man, are you?"

He beamed at her.  "Love books, me.  Gorgeous things, anything you want, right in front of you, from adventure to filth."

Rose giggled.  "Well, as long as I wouldn't be inconveniencing you, yeah, I'll take you up on those rides."

"Brilliant," he stopped, bringing her to a stop as well.  He looked at her carefully.  "You don't have a boyfriend who's going to get wildly jealous of me, have you?"

"Haven't got a boyfriend at all," she replied airily. 

"Oh!  None at all, good, alright, no black eyes for me, then."

Rose shook her head, smiling.  "Would hate for that pretty face of yours to get messed up anyway, wouldn't I?"

John smiled at her, a soft smile she'd not seen from him yet.  He squeezed her hand.  "Brilliant," he said, "Would you...  Would you give me your mobile number, so I can get your schedule, and the like?"

Rose nodded and he pulled his mobile from his bag, not bothering to let her hand go in the process, and repeated back her phone number as she dictated it to him.  He threw his phone back to his bag and looked up at her.  "Excellent," he said, "I'll just... I'll text you?"

"Yeah," she agreed, "That sounds like a good idea."

"Good!"  He looked at his watch.  "Oh, I'd best get to my lecture.  I'll be in touch, Rose."

"Alright, John."

It seemed a bit regretful, in the way their hands loosened and separated before they smiled at each other and headed in opposite directions for their destinations. 

***

"Rose Tyler, shake a leg!"

John had called her the next day, and she'd almost regretted telling him her last name because he used it a hell of a lot.   She'd also regretted picking up, because John was very, very peppy in the morning.  

"I'm coming," she griped at him through her mobile, throwing last minute items into her bag before flying out the door. 

"How is it you never miss the bus?" he asked as she got into his beat up blue Cadillac.

She grinned across the seat at him as she buckled her seat-belt, "Because the bus driver isn't as kind as to wait," she said.

"Oh, you're lucky you're pretty," he said, rolling his eyes before starting the car up. 

Riding in a car with John was quite the adventure.  He talked with his hands, which scared her to death, and looked over at her continuously to make eye contact with her when she spoke.  Overall, he wasn't necessarily a bad driver, but he wasn't exactly excellent at it either.  

"Here we are!" He said, hitting the breaks with more force than strictly necessary.  She lurched in her seat but was laughing by the time she hit her seat again.  

"Alright, let's go."  She motioned to open the door, but John stopped her.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He clamored out of his side of the car and ran around the front to open her door for her.  She smiled up at him as she took his hand and exited.  "Thank you," she said as he shut the door behind her. 

"So, how was your trial run?" John asked. 

Rose giggled and looked up at him, confused.  "My trial run?"

He looked at her disbelievingly, "With taxi de John, of course."

"Oh!" She said, catching on, "It was wonderful.  I really appreciate this."

***

They'd gotten their schedules completely squared away within a week, and though Rose kept telling herself that riding with John was just a carpool, but she couldn't keep that up for long.  She kept noticing things about him, the way he ran a hand through his hair, or put on his glasses at a red light to read the signs.  It was things that a woman interested in a man noticed, and she knew that full well.  

Still, she pushed it away, ignoring that they held hands whenever they got out of his car, because why would that mean anything?  Friends held hands all the time!  She noticed, however, that it made the other men on campus back away from her, and though John seemed oblivious to it all, she had to admit that she rather liked only receiving attention from him.  He was the only one she wanted attention from any more.  It scared her. 

She battled with growing emotions, the sparks that shot up her arm whenever he held her hand, or the chills she got whenever he looked her in the eyes.  But she couldn't stop herself.  Every day she grew closer to him, enjoying the car rides more and more, and eventually it turned into their clasped hands resting on his thigh as he drove one-handed.  

He dropped her off one night, after class, and Rose found herself struggling with leaving.  She didn't want to leave, and that was just the problem.  She squeezed his hands.  "Come in for dinner?  I'm going to order in chips."

He looked at her disbelievingly, "You can order in for chips?"

"If you know someone who works at the chippy," she said, leaning across the center console towards him.  "What do you think?"

A slow smile blossomed over his face, but that didn't distract her from seeing his eyes flick down to her mouth.  He nodded.  "Yes, I'd love to have dinner with you."

"Great!" She beamed at him, unable to hold back her joy at having this amazing man with her.  He came inside with her, holding her hand all the way up the stairs.  He let her enter first, trailing along a respectful distance behind her.  

"You have a lovely flat," he said conversationally as he shut the door.

"It's clean," Rose said dismissively, "All I can afford, right now."

"I still think it's lovely."

Rose called her friend who worked at the chip shop and asked her to bring up two bags when her shift let out in a half hour.  John stood next to her, watching her speak until she hung up. 

"Cuppa while we wait?" She asked.  

John nodded and hoisted himself up to sit on her counter.  "Thank you," he said.

She lifted a shoulder.  "It's no trouble."

They had dinner almost every night together after that, whether it was at John's flat or Rose's, and Rose found herself drawn to him more and more with every passing night they spent together.  They began packing more casual clothes in his car to change into when they ate.  

A very stormy night was what brought everything to a head. 

They'd had to run into John's flat, bags held above their heads and giggling all the way there.  John slammed the door behind them ceremoniously.  "Well," he said breathlessly, "It would appear we're both soaking wet.  You can change in the bedroom, I'll take the bathroom."

Rose nodded, taking her bag with her back to his bedroom, very thankful that her bag had not been completely soaked through.  She changed into the outfit she had brought, a tight tank top and loose blue sweatpants, and made her way back out to the kitchen.  

"I have leftover Chinese," John informed her from within the refrigerator.  She had to avert her eyes to keep from staring at his frankly magnificent hair sticking up everywhere.  It was hard to imagine that she wasn't the one that made him look that way. 

"Sounds good," Rose replied, leaning against the counter.

His gaze on her lingered for a few seconds longer than necessary before he pulled out the takeaway cartons and started to prepare it.

"You look nice," he said.

"I'm wearing sweats," She replied blandly.

He glanced over his shoulder at her.  "I still think you look nice."

"Thank you.  You don't have to say things like that, though."

"I say the things because I want to, not because I have to."

Later, they were tucked up on the couch, watching a film, John's arm around her shoulders, fingertips tracing her upper arm.  She let her head fall onto his shoulder and with it, let fall the notion that she was not falling in love with him.

Because she most certainly was.

Upon looking outside, she noticed it was coming down so hard she could barely see out the window.  "It's still raining rather hard," she said casually.

He glanced the way she'd been looking.  "It is."  He paused, "It might be best if you stay here tonight."

She felt a giant surge of bravery, insane as it was, and found herself sitting up suddenly and straddling his hips.  "I think I should, too."

His hands instantly came up to grip her waist.  "Rose?" 

"John," she ran her hands up into his air and his eyes fluttered shut. 

"Rose, I thought-"

"What?  What did you think?"

He forced his eyes open.  "That you weren't interested."

"Oh, yes," Rose said sarcastically.  "All that hand holding and touching.  Definitely not interested."

Before he could say anything else she'd bent down to kiss his neck, sucking at his pulse point.  She heard a quiet little sigh come from him as one of his arms came around her back. 

"Rose."

"Mm?" 

"Come back up here."

She paused in her ministrations on his neck and looked down into his face.  He pressed up and kissed her properly, his hand cupping the back of her head.  It was a loving touch, so loving.  As his lips slid across hers, she felt something shoot through her, something telling her that this was one hundred percent right.  

He kissed her as if he had all the time in the world and was relishing in it, only wanting her close for as long as possible.  He held her close against him, his touch nothing short of reverent.  They pulled apart slowly, running out of breath, and she pressed her forehead against his, blissfully still in his touch.  

"Rose?"

"Yeah?"

He moved to nuzzle her neck.  "I think we should take this elsewhere."

"Couches are plenty horizontal, John," She said.

John pulled back to look her in the face.  "If we do this, we're going to do it properly," he stood up, her legs now wrapped around his waist.  "I'm going to worship your body and make you mine.  Is that what you want?"

She nodded.  "Yeah. Yes, that's what I want."

"Well, good, because Rose Tyler, that's what you're about to get!" And he pressed in to kiss her smiling mouth.

It was an odd thing, a very odd thing, that all of it would begin because of a chance meeting on a bus. 


End file.
